Old telephone technology is no longer adequate. Due to an increase in the number of telecommuting employees, businesses are finding that conventional landlines are unable to meet their communication demands.

There has had to be a more efficient method of handling your company's correspondence, right? Sure enough, there is.

We'll walk you through all you need to know about virtual phone numbers for your business.

What is a Virtual Number?

A virtual phone number is one that isn't associated with any particular physical place. To make or receive calls, virtual numbers may be utilised with any existing phone system, including traditional landline phones, mobile phones, and even computer audio systems. It's ideal for both office workers and those who put in time at home.

Any number of devices may be set up to receive calls from your virtual phone number, and you can easily switch between them as required. You may avoid having your real phone number shown in public directories by getting a virtual phone number instead.

In order to take calls from consumers all over the globe, regardless of where their physical offices are situated, virtual phone lines are needed. They can talk to their clients without any hitches. They are unable to tell the difference between a virtual and a regular phone number.

Virtual numbers may fall into one of two categories:

• Numbers assigned to specific geographic locations; often called rate centres or area codes.

• Telephone numbers beginning with 800, 888, 866, and similar prefixes are known as toll-free numbers and do not incur any charges to the caller.

Maintain in mind that if you switch to a virtual phone system, you may keep using the same number. You may choose new numbers or change out existing ones anytime you choose as your business grows.

So, how exactly does one make use of a virtual telephone number?

In contrast to traditional phone numbers, virtual phone numbers may be used with any carrier and any location. When calling a virtual number, callers must use VoIP (VoIP). To put it simply, it's the same tried-and-true technology behind services like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Google Voice.

All of your phone calls are converted to digital signals and sent across IP networks and regular phone lines. We use a technique called "number porting" to make sure your business phone number is portable across VoIP providers.

As a consequence, making calls requires nothing more than a stable data connection, such as 4G LTE or Wi-Fi. Using a virtual phone number in this way enables you to answer calls on your cell phone.

What you need to know about getting a virtual phone number? 

There's no denying the convenience of virtual phone numbers over physical ones. They serve both smaller firms with remote workers and bigger ones with contact centre communication needs.

• First, you'll need to choose a virtual phone number area code or format.
• The second step is to shop around for the best deal before settling on a subscription.
• Third, you should get a virtual phone number from a reliable company like Office24by7.

When compared to a traditional phone number, what characteristics distinguish a virtual one?

Phones with "normal" numbers are often set up and supplied by the local telephone provider. Most consumers have no idea that they, and not the phone provider, really own the number. Phone numbers are normally given out by phone providers in accordance with the physical address of the location where the line was placed.

In a facility using traditional phone lines, the wires must physically connect each desk phone. Not every workplace makes it simple or affordable to install telephone lines.

In contrast, a virtual phone number is not tied to a specific physical location. Because everyone uses the same cloud PBX, it may be used both in and out of the workplace.

Calls to the virtual number may be answered by anybody in your in-house or remote team, whether they're at the office, at home, or on the go. Furthermore, based on the availability of your team, you may choose who will answer calls to the virtual phone number.

Reasons Why You Should Get a Virtual Phone Number

Now that you know more about these figures, you can evaluate whether or not they would be useful for your company.

Learn about some of the advantages of virtual phone numbers that you may not have considered.

1) Make and receive calls anywhere 

If you dial a standard phone number, it will only reach that one office phone. When the worker is absent, who is responsible for that desk? You can just ignore them or forward them to voicemail. There's evidence to show that once consumers reach your voicemail, they won't bother to contact you again.

The issue is resolved by using virtual numbers. They may have their desk phones disconnected and calls forwarded to their mobile devices or to other agents. These enhancements lessen the likelihood that calls will be sent to voicemail and then forgotten.

2) Contemporary voice mail

However, if they are still sent to voicemail, there is hope. In a matter of seconds, the message is transcribed and sent to your email over a virtual phone system. When your child's school phone rings, how can you know whether it's a robocall or a real person? Voicemail to email lets you find out.

3) Get rid of all those extra, costly fees by sticking with a local phone number

Users of your virtual phone system may make and receive calls from anywhere in the globe at no additional cost. Callers throughout the world will enjoy a toll-free or reduced-rate local phone number.

Let's put it into effect by imagining you're organising a national advertising campaign in the USA. To avoid charging clients for phone calls, you may provide them with a toll-free number.

If they dial a virtual local number you've set up for their area code, they'll be connected with the right person in your company, no matter where they happen to be located. It doesn't matter where they're located, they'll be connected with your sales force. The greatest aspect is that your leads won't even notice a change.

4. Make auto-attendants more satisfying for callers.

Office24by7 and other cloud-based phone service providers have automated attendants. As soon as a call comes in, an automated attendant answers and gives the caller a simple menu to navigate in order to get in touch with the appropriate department or employee. This is called IVR calling system and it prevents callers from having to describe their problem to the incorrect person.

In the event that a customer dials your virtual number with a query about their bill, for instance, their call will be routed to a member of your finance department. It will be much easier for them to get straight to the agent who can best assist them.

Such advanced call routing capabilities are not often seen in legacy phone systems. In order to transfer calls between extensions on an older phone system, you may require an expensive on-premise PBX, an IT manager, and a lot of manual labour. No one enjoys this situation.

To get the most out of your business, go to a Cloud PBX and use virtual phone lines.

5) Workers may keep their personal and professional lives distinct when it comes to their phones

Virtual phone numbers are useful for more than simply receiving calls. Your outbound calls to clients and employees may be made from the same phone number. As an added bonus, this method also prevents your caller ID from being traced.

With this new feature, virtual phone numbers are perfect for telecommuters. More than a third of businesses now use remote workers, and more and more people are choosing to forego traditional 9-to-5 office hours in favour of more flexible schedules.

It is not necessary for remote workers to have a landline or a mobile phone dedicated to business usage. They have more discretion and privacy when making calls to others because of the virtual phone number that hides their true caller ID.

They need not be afraid that consumers may have access to your personal telephone number. The virtual phone number may be set to accept calls at certain times of day, or alternatively, you can choose to have all calls to the number go straight to voicemail.

Wrapping It Up

There is nothing much to say, if you are looking out for a reliable virtual number provider, then there is no other better option than Office24by7. Contact us on +91 7097171717 for more details.